Recent publications on the Virgin, icons, and relics have stimulated anew discussions on cults and cultic practices in Byzantium. Scholars are re-examining the ways in which a cult is made manifest in architecture, monumental decorative programs, images, and luxury arts. There is also interest in phenomenology, senses, and emotions, and their place in cultic experiences. The traditional definition of cult is once again being considered and debated. This session brings together distinct approaches that will stimulate further debate on the definition of cults, and question the ways in which art, architecture, and related texts can provide evidence for a cult’s origin, duration, decentralization, and audiences.

Keynote Speaker is Louis A. Zagami, Develpment officer, IOCC. A native of Boston, Massachusetts he is trained as a “First Responder” and member of IOCC’s Emergency response network. Mr. Zagami has been with IOCC since September 2009.

The annual Fall Lecture Series at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, featuring four public lectures on Tuesdays throughout the month of October began Tuesday, October 4, 2016.

The following are the weekly topics and speakers:

October 11 at 7:00 p.m. — “Identity and Knowledge: A Reflection on Leading Reading Groups on the Church Fathers.” Dr. Timothy Becker, PhD, teaches at the Center for Orthodox Thought and Culture at Eastern University in Philadelphia, where he also leads a popular reading group for anyone interested in the Church Fathers and Orthodoxy. Dr. Becker will reflect on why and how participation in this communal activity has been transformative for students and others.

October 18 at Noon — “Vocation & Ministry in the Orthodox Church.” Sr. Vassa Larin, PhD is host of the popular YouTube show “Coffee with Sr. Vassa,” author of various scholarly and popular works, and Professor of Liturgical Studies at the University of Vienna in Austria. She will explore the intriguing concepts of “ministry” and “vocation” in the context of our post-modern, globalized world. Have these concepts “changed” in the Internet-Age — an Age of Fluidity?

October 25 at 7:00 p.m. — “Money to Burn: A New (Old) Approach to Christian Stewardship.” Dr. Andy Geleris, MD, completed medical school and a neurology residency at UCLA and has been a practicing neurologist for 33 years in southern California. He and his family became Orthodox as part of Saint Peter’s in Pomona, CA, a Protestant congregation that converted to Orthodoxy in 1996. In his talk, Dr. Geleris will examine how embracing a biblical and patristic vision of generosity can revitalize one’s spiritual life and the Church’s witness to the world.

Refreshments will be provided. Please direct questions and RSVP to the Contact Person.

For 350 years this city served as the western capital of the Roman Empire where a very particular integration of Germanic and Roman occurred that had significant consequences for western Europe. The buildings and mosaics that date from this period inspired visitors for centuries and continue to inspire us today.

International Conference for Orthodox Music is pleased to announce the upcoming conference to be held in Prague.

The Conference Theme
The idea of a Byzantine ars nova has existed for some time as a description of the elaborate repertories of kalophonic chant, on the analogy of the western mediaeval “new art”. It is also useful, however, as a term to include other kinds of “new art” in the field of Orthodox church music.

This conference aims to explore the idea of innovation in Orthodox chant, from the Byzantine period to compositions written today; topics include, but are not limited to, the way in which innovation can be reconciled with tradition, analysis of the reception of different kinds of innovative repertories, correspondences and contrasts between Eastern and Western techniques of chant composition, and discussion of the means and techniques by which an “ars nova” might be implemented.

Do you want to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable families around the world? Join our IOCC team at the Baltimore Running Festival and help raise money for those in need in places like Syria, Greece, and Ethiopia!

Sign up here and receive a personal fundraising page, promotional materials, and additional incentives when you meet certain fundraising goals. Make sure to also register for the race at www.thebaltimoremarathon.com!

Born in 1903 in the northeastern Pennsylvania coal region to parents from the Lemko village of Rzepedz in the Bieszczady Mountains of southeast Poland, Nicholas Bervinchak was a coal miner-turned-artist whose work was displayed worldwide, including in the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution and the White House.

An exhibit of his etchings, his church art (including actual murals from the recently closed St. George church in Minersville, Pennsylvania), and memorabilia will take place in the temporary gallery of the Ukrainian Historical and Educational Center of NJ this Fall.

Sister Dr. Vassa [Larin], the well known liturgiologist of the University of Vienna, Austria and nun of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia who hosts a popular You-tube series of catechetical programs titled “Coffee with Sr. Vassa”, will offer five presentations across eastern Pennsylvania October 17-20, 2016.

On Monday, October 17, Sister Vassa will speak at Holy Cross Church, 1725 Holy Cross Lane, Williamsport, PA at 7:00 p.m. Her topic will be “Sharing the Gospel in the Age of the Internet.”

Saint Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary, 175 Saint Tikhon’s Road, South Canaan, PA will host Sister Vassa on Tuesday, October 18 at noon, when she will speak on “Contemporary Challenges in Pursuing Vocations.” At 7:00 p.m. that evening, she will speak on “Keeping Christ in Orthodoxy” at Holy Trinity Church, 401 East Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA.

“Scripture in Orthodox Liturgy and Everyday Life” will be the topic of Sister Vassa’s presentation at Christ the Saviour Church, 5501 Old Locust Lane, Harrisburg, PA on Wednesday, October 19 at 7:00 p.m.

The final presentation in the series will be delivered at Saint Stephen Cathedral, 8598 Verre Road, Philadelphia, PA on Thursday, October 20, at 7:00 p.m. Sister Vassa’s topic will be “Keeping Christ in Orthodoxy.”

The series is being presented by the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania of the Orthodox Church in America and the Orthodox Council of Churches of South Central Pennsylvania. A PDF flyer is available on-line. For more information:

Asa Eger offers an new interpretation of exchange along the Islamic-Byzantine frontier.

The retreat of the Byzantine army from Syria in around 650 CE, in advance of the approaching Arab armies, is one that has resounded emphatically in the works of both Islamic and Christian writers, and created an enduring motif: that of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier. For centuries, Byzantine and Islamic scholars have evocatively sketched a contested border: the annual raids between the two, the line of fortresses defending Islamic lands, the no-man’s land in between and the birth of jihad. In early representations of a Muslim-Christian encounter, accounts of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier are charged with significance for a future ‘clash of civilizations’ that often envisions a polarized world. In this lecture, Eger examines the physical and ideological aspects of this frontier. By highlighting the archaeological study of the real and material frontier, as well as acknowledging its ideological military and religious implications, he offers a more complex vision of this dividing line than has been traditionally disseminated and challenges prevailing notions of jihad.

Please join us for the second one-day workshop (in a series of 8) designed to elevate the student’s iconography awareness, technique and skills. Open to iconography students and artists of all levels, this one-day workshop is taught by Byzantine Iconographer Magdalene Grace Deane at the Hagia Theodora School of Byzantine Iconography in Newberg, Oregon. Class will be held at our intimate, Old World–style studio filled with solemnity, Byzantine chant and prayer.

The Spirit of Orthodoxy Choir, under the direction of Aleksei V. Shipovalnikov and his associate Stratos Mandalakis, and the choirs of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City, NY, will present a concert to benefit New York City’s Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, which was destroyed by fire on Pascha 2016.

Titled “From the East unto the West,” the concert will feature music from both the eastern and western Christian traditions. All proceeds will benefit the cathedral’s restoration fund.

Mr. Shipovalnikov is one of two noted Church musicians who was awarded the Orthodox Church in America’s Order of Saint Romanos in May 2016.

The Orthodox Choir of Metropolitan Detroit will perform its sixth annual benefit concert in the city’s Greektown district. With the theme “Orthodox Hymns of Praise,” the concert program will consist of hymns and liturgical songs from different Orthodox Christian traditions.

The choir is composed of more than 40 volunteer singers from several Orthodox Christian parishes in southeastern Michigan. Under the artistic direction of Victoria Kopistiansky, it is regarded as one of the finest ensembles of its kind in the country.

Sponsored by the Council of Orthodox Christian Churches of Metropolitan Detroit (COCC), the concert will support three Orthodox charitable organizations that aid local communities in the metro area: Detroit’s Own Orthodox Radio, Orthodox Detroit Outreach and FOCUS Detroit.

Ukrainian Catholic University Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, Faculty of Humanities, Soborna Ukraine and Kyivan Tradition Research Programme presents an International Conference on “Sacred Scripture in Ukrainian Culture: The Canonical and Extra-Canonical Writings and their Reception”, will take place in the Ukraine.

With the Christianization of ‘Kyivan Rus’, the Holy Scripture was transmitted to the Slavs through the medium of the Church Slavonic language and resulted in processes of an authentic inculturation within the Kyivan Church. This original synthesis of Christianity and Slavic folklore, served as the basis for the development of a new Christian culture reflected in the liturgical services and sacraments, sacred texts and a calendar with its cycle of feasts, modes of spiritual life and monasticism, ecclesial policy and canon law, church architecture and iconography, hymnography and sacred music.

Beginning Iconography Workshop with Colette Kalvesmaki who has taught iconography and written icons for twenty years.

Join us for a step-by-step journey of prayer in color as we celebrate St Nicholas just in time for his names day! This course is for beginning students on up in the medium of egg tempera. Students will paint a 9” x 12” bust of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, on a clay/masonite board (no gilding).

The workshop will be offered at The Trinity House Cafe in Leesburg VA. 10-4pm

“A Christian Ending to Our Life”. St. Nicholas Orthodox Church invites you to a presentation & workshop on how you might start a conversation to make your wishes for end-of-life care known to family & loved ones, or how to help someone else start a conversation. The workshop will be followed by Vespers at 6:00 pm.

20 minutes duration. With a prospect of publication in the Acts of the Conference, for the Ninth Annual Conference of the Sophia Institute, we call on our scholarly family for offers of Academic Short Paper Titles related to the Conference Theme: The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. There are spaces for 16 communications this year.

Titles, please, with one page short Abstracts, email and address details, from those with a Master’s degree or above, to:
Prof. John McGuckin
jam401@columbia.eduSTRICTLY BEFORE OCTOBER 31,2016 the closure date.

Family History Group:The Nashi Predky-Our Ancestors Family History Group brings together aspiring genealogists with a wide range of worldwide experts on the various ethnic groups in current day Ukraine and southeast Poland. This conference is entitled:

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Upcoming Events

The Mission Field needs medical professionals to volunteer on short-term mission teams this summer! Administering health care to people who do not normally have access to treatment is such an essential part of OCMC missions,

The Berlin Painter and His World Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C. This exhibition of ancient Athenian vase-painting, organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, focuses on the art and career of the

Proclaiming 2017 as the “125th Year of Orthodox Christianity in Greater Chicago,” the region’s ruling bishops have endorsed a historic celebration to take place on Saturday, September 30, 2017. Sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Clergy

“Even Tears Were Not Enough” is the second documentary by John Righetti and Maria Silvestri. It features scholars and survivors telling the story of the forced deportation of Poland’s Carpatho-Rusyn population by the Polish Communist

United States Session Title: Views To and From the Wondrous Mountain (Panel 3A) Session Date: Oct 6, 2017 (2:30 PM – 4:35 PM) For more information: https://sites.google.com/a/umn.edu/bsc2017/registration The body of the stylite, ambiguously depicted as

The Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology is pleased to announce a “Symposium on Creation and Ecology: Insights from Patristic and Contemporary Christian Sources”. This symposium is